A study conducted by researchers at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies has shown the effect that the relationship between predators and their prey can have on the flow of carbon in an ecosystem.

In experiments where the researchers manipulated the food chains of grassland ecosystems, plants were found to take in 1.4 times the amount of carbon when spiders were around than when only grasshoppers were present.

The findings, which come out this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, are touted as significant for biodiversity management and may offer a new way of thinking about carbon capture.